| The shift from a technically rational focus (Leininger, 1981) to a more emotional and humanistic aspect of hospital care (Morrison, 1992) has sparked an interest in how nurses are trained in professional development "to care." Literature on nurses' pre-service training has suggested that nurse educators who use instructional strategies such as case scenarios, role play, and self-reflection (Nehls, 1995; Schoenly, 1994) can help nurses develop their affective domain and behaviors of expressive caring. This action research study was conducted to investigate how hospital-based nurse educators reported they used instructional strategies in professional development curricula to promote negotiative and relational caring. The conceptual framework that guided the study was drawn from Clarke's (2007) aspects of caring in nursing practice. Interview data revealed 16 best practice strategies that were categorized into four types of instruction: content-based, autobiographical-based, enacted, and relationship-based instruction. These categories of reported best practice instruction embraced a Caring Curriculum and could be used by hospital-based nurse educators in professional development curricula. The end result of integrating these best practices into the professional development of nurses includes not only the development of a learning environment that benefits nurses, but the provision of negotiative and relational caring to aid in supporting the well-being of the patient and family. |
